Waylaid Part I : Thieves in the night.

Chapter I

Everyone stood around the time clock waiting out the last few minutes of the workday.  Like usual, Gort leaned against the wall by himself.  He watched his coworkers talk amongst themselves, a few Half-Elves, some Humans, and a Dwarf.  Gort was the only Half-Ork in the building.  So yes, he had no friends here.
It wasn't that no one liked him.  He just didn't feel that comfortable with any of these people.  Some of his coworkers had tried in the past to be his friend, but it never worked out.
There were two Half-Elf women on his shift named Jolene and Tessa that were always trying to get him to smile, that were staring at him at the moment.  They smiled and waved at him when he looked at them.  He just grunted and looked at the clock again.  To his dismay, there was still one minute left of the workday.
Regretfully, one one of the two Half-Elf women walked up to him.  "So Gort.  Jolene and I are going out to a few places when we leave here."  She said with a smile.  "We could use a big strong man like you to look out for us if we get into any trouble.  And maybe, we can have some real fun later."  The smile grew sly.
Gort grunted again.  It wasn't that he thought these two women weren't attractive.  By far, they were the two most beautiful women on his shift.  The fact was, he just wasn't interested.  "I'll pass.  Thank you."
If anything, the Half-Elf's smile grew even wider.  "Another time then."  With the, she and her friend clocked out and left.
With a grunt, Gort clocked out and left work as well.
Outside, he noticed that it had rained no more than an hour ago.  The rain had left everything wet and clean smelling.
Gort did not own a car, so he walked.
Night in his small city was dangerous for most who walked alone at night in the part of town he went to.  Most of the average thugs and would-be thieves wanted nothing to do with a Half-Ork.  His kind was looked at as poor, stupid bruisers, that put up a big fight for little gain.
The ones he did have to watch out for however were the police.  In their minds, they thought that a Half-Ork out by himself after dark was up to no good.  But to his amazement, the only police car he saw along his way only slowed down to watch him for a moment before driving on.
Gort arrived at his destination, Lorr's Bar and Grill, no more than fourtyfive minutes after he had clocked out from work.  When he entered, he gave the place the once over.  It was only Half full of people in various degrees of intoxication.
Fort saw no sign of his friend Leela in the bar.  'Good.'  He thought to himself, before sitting down at the bar.
A Dwarf behind the bar walked up to Gort.  "What'll it be tonight, Gorty?"
"The same Lorr.  And don't call me that."
The Dwarf smiled and quickly set a large glass of beer in front of Gort.  Then he went to the door behind the bar to inform the cook of Gort's order.
Gort called over to him.  "And tell Frank not to skimp on the fries this time."
Frank must have heard Gort yell because he yelled back from the kitchen, "I don't skimp on nothin',  you big ingrate!"
Gort took a few dranks of his beer and kept to himself.  No one bothered him.  Not even the small group of Half-Orks in the corner, which was fine with Gort.
His beer was half gone when Lorr brought him his burger that was drowning in a plate full of fries.  "You haven't seen Lee tonight, have you?"  He asked Lorr.
Lorr rubbed his forehead.  "No.  Not tonight."  The Dwarf looked at him for a moment.  "You lookin' for her?"
"No.  Just wanted to be alone tonight."  Maybe he would actually get to eat in peace for once.
The Dwarf shrugged and went to check on another customer.
Gort was happy to finally be able to eat his dinner without someone bothering him.  Half way through his meal however, peace ended as someone sat down next to him and said, "Well hello there, handsome."
Gort grunted.  "Hello Lee."
Leela was a small woman, standing about five foot three, which made her look like a child to Gort's six foot eight height.  She had black shoulder length hair, and was pretty in an almost youthful way.
"I'm so glad I found you."  The human woman said.  Not that it was that hard to find Gort.  He came to Lorr's Bar and Grill every night after work.  Other than work and shopping for necessities, he was either here or at home.
"What do you want, Lee?"  With Leela it was always one scam or another.
"Why do you always think I want something?  Can't we ever just talk?"  She quickly learned across the bar and grabbed the Dwarf by the arm as he walked by.  "Lorr!  Sauce!"
The Dwarf looked at her hand on his arm, then regarded her with a stern look.  "Don't touch me."
She flashed him the most innocent smile she could muster.  Lorr's stern look broadened into a big toothy grin, and he went about getting her a drink.
Lorr was not bad a Dwarf.  He stood only a few inches shorter than Leela.  What hair he had on his mostly bald head was red, just like his beard that almost touched his knees.  As short as he was though, his bar needed no bouncers because Lorr's shoulders were almost as wide as he was tall, and he had the strength to back up anything he said.
"Maybe that's because every time I see you, you need me to help you pull off some insane scam."  Came Gort's reply.
"Gorty, I'm hurt that you would think that I hold our friendship in such a low regard."  She made the most of looking accused.
Gort grunted.  "I know you don't think so little of our friendship.  You just have an impulse control problem."  He finished off his beer.  "And don't call me Gorty!"
Lorr sat Leela's drink in front of her and shook his head at Gort.  Gort ordered another beer, he had the feeling he was going to need it.  "Okay.  Let's talk then.  What's on your mind?"
"Well...  I was talking to some friends,"  that's haw it always started, some 'friends' would tell her this or that, and then some insane plan was soon to follow.  "And they said that the Deathskulls have come into a lot of money somehow."
Fort grunted.  "Please Lee.  Please tell me you aren't going to rob the 'Skulls"
"I wouldn't use the word 'rob.'  It's more like investing their money for them."  She tried to make it sound like she was suggesting the easiest job in the world.
"Look Lee, the Deathskulls may not be the baddest gang in town, but they are by no means anyone's spanking boys!"  Gort could not believe she was suggesting this.
"No, you look, Gorty!  I can do this.  I just need someone to watch my back.  That's all."  She tried to sound both confident and pleading at the same time.
"No.  What you need is someone to get their ads kicked, while you run off with the money."
At that point Lorr brought Gort his new beer, just as Leela pleaded, "Please, Gorty.  I promise, this time things will work out with one Hell of a payoff."
"Come'on Gorty.  Just help the girl out."  The Dwarf put in.
Gort grunted, and took a deep pull off his beer.  "Thanks for the help Lorr.  And don't call me that."
Lorr chuckled as he went off to see to some new arrivals.
"Well, how about it?"  Leela proded.
"Okay.  I'm in.  But I want thirty five percent of the take."
Leela gasped.  "That's more than twice what you normally ask for."
Gort took another big drink of his beer.  "That's because you never asked me to do something so stupid before."
"Fine."  She said, sounding like it almost hurt her feelings.  "Thirty five percent.  We'll leave as soon as we finish our drinks."
Gort polished off his beer and went to wait outside for Leela.
Leela just smiled after him and sipped her drink.  No need to hurry.